The cost of electricity in South Africa is a problem for them, but it doesn’t even seem the power plants can keep the electricity flowing anyways.One Cape Town native, Charlotte Slingsby, sent out to find a solution, and found it in a sheet of plastic that she calls Moya.The Moya have little filaments hanging off of them that can capture tiny amounts of wind power at a time.Then the energy can be stored in a battery.Loosing electricity randomly multiple times a day can be a real problem.It could prevent you from doing something so simple as pulling your car out of the garage to stopping someone’s life support machine.It also shuts down the alarm systems that the country heavily relies on to stop criminals. Slingsby says “It’s quite terrifying and it is those day to day things that you forget about.Every part of your day changes.”This only proves how much they need a reliable source of energy.Slingsby made the design in a postgraduate program at the Royal College of Art and Imperial College of London.The design could be described as collecting small bits of energy and accumulating them into one large bit of energy, kind of like how one rain drop can contribute to a stream of water.Small silver strands are moved by gusts of air.The fibers work under the piezoelectric effect.This is the ability for something to react to the change in pressure.The whole thing is made of polyvinylidene fluoride.The prototype was used in a wind tunnel for testing.The creator says that the Moya can create 10% of the energy per square meter that a solar panel can.But, in case that sounds a little off, there is something else benefitting this invention.They can be placed where solar panels can’t.They could be placed under bridges or on the sides of buildings.One idea is to install them in the London Underground, because it can not only catch the wind, but it could possibly be used to help absorb the wasted energy of a train stopping.This product won’t be released for another five to ten years, because Slingsby hopes to make a marketable product.Until then, she can come up with more ideas of where to place her new invention.In my opinion, she should consider turning it into a fabric and make energy producing clothes with it.

Campers or other people who spend a lot of time outside, and sleeping outside, could now have a much better living area with better conditions.The Slovakian design company, Nice Architects, believe that they have made the new perfect portable housing solution. It’s called the Ecocapsule, and it is basically a low energy house packed into a compact form.It includes a bed, workstation, a shower, and a small kitchen.In reality, it’s big enough for two adults.It can collect rainwater and dew and harnessed energy from solar panels and a wind turbine.The solar panels and wind turbines are built in with a high capacity battery that can offer enough energy even when on the road.Despite being very small, it has enough storage space for all your camping gear.It weighs 1,500 kilograms.The Ecocapsule not available for order yet, but many pictures of it have been released.It should be properly unveiled in the end of the year.Then, Nice Architects will begin to take orders for the home.Soon after in 2016, a camper chassis will be available for it as well.

Here's A Link To The Nice Architects Webpage

And One To The Ecocapsule Site

The Wonderful Ecocapsule

This is going to be another review, to spice things up a bit.I was out of town for a week recently and I had the chance to go the Houston Museum of Fine Arts in Texas.It’s a wonderful museum and I would completely recommend it to anyone in the area.It features many of the most famous artists that you could hear of, such as, Picasso and Van Gogh.There was one exhibit that stood out from the others for me.It was a section called Cosmic Dialogues.This is where it really gets interesting.Besides the space age art by other Latin Americans such as Gego, the main part is an area dedicated to the artist, Gyula Kosice.Again, you may ask me, what does this have to do with alternative energy and global warming?This artist has captured the idea of space travel when the Earth dies to the best extent.On this blog, we don’t only talk about how to make the world a cleaner place and being able to make things better for us, we talk about how it could be if we didn’t as well.Future living spaces that could protect us, to living in space. When I think of these concepts, Gyula Kosice hit these perfectly.He called them the Hydrospacial City.They explore the ability of how we can change the way we interact with the water and space around us, while fitting in human conditions.The artist built Plexiglas models of cities that could float in space and keep us alive.He worked on these models from 1946 to 1972, a long and very well thought out design and building phase.Unfortunately, no one really considered his art as a possibility on the way we could live for the future.He was just too far ahead of his time.Until now.The MFAH put up his exhibit to show us the way we could all live in our future.It is in a large room that is immersive features many of his models and sketches hanging from the walls and ceilings.It is featured in a room that is lit with small lights that look like stars.The room has an eerie space like glow.It is perfect for these marvelous designs.I really enjoyed this exhibit because it featured one of the many art feats that have been way ahead of their time.Now, looing at some modern scientists points of views of how things could turn out, his art isn’t too far off.It’s clean and futuristic, like many modern designs.In my mind, it is also completely possible, the only thing that would need a little work would be spaces to put plants.Over all, his designs just show water and human life, but as many of you know, we need plants to make oxygen so we can breathe.The exhibit will still be at the Houston Museum of Fine Art until August 23 of 2015.If any of you are in the area, I highly recommend you visit it.The exhibit is included in normal admission fee.

The Exhibit Room

Some of The Many Cities

Hey guys!This isn’t a post you would normally see on this site, this post is special. Normally we stick to updating about alternative energy, sustainable architecture, and global warming, but today is a bit different. It’s time for Global Warming & The Future Of Energy’s Alternative Energy News to review a video game.Now, you may all be saying, “What! What does a video game have to do with alternative energy and making the world a better place to live?”A lot, actually.Let’s dive into the world of the video game, Flower.Close your eyes and picture yourself in a green field with air moving all around you.You turn around to see you are standing in the shadow of a giant wind turbine.It looms over you and you feel quite small, but you notice that there is one thing that is not quite right.It isn’t moving, and the wind is blowing quite fast.The video game Flower, by thatgamecompany explores the relationship between the world today, and nature serenity.The first level is all about getting the wind turbines to start again.Then, as you go through the game, you see how the game producers interpret our effect on our world.You play as a flower petal and float around the screen to collect other flower petals in different patterns.These patterns can help change the world to turn on the wind turbines and shut off coal plants, to bringing an ancient tree back to life.The game doesn’t have any rules, or any clues on how to beat the level.It gives small little clues here and there as to what you should do, but there is never any text or talking to show you what to do.The inventor of this game, Jenova Chen, has made other games that are under the thatgamecompany title.They are all peaceful and have beautiful graphics. While they are all worth playing, Flower is my favorite.For me, Flower is a very important game.It’s what got me interested in wind turbines and keeping the earth green.When I was younger and the game came out, my dad bought it for our Playstation.I began to play it and I just had to know what the pinwheel like things were.Of course, they turned out to be the wind turbines that I am so fond of today. This game has a beautiful visual sweep and is one of the best visually appealing games I’ve ever played.As well as being beautiful, the sound track is amazing!I love to listen to the sound track even when I am not playing the game.It is not worth playing the game, in my option, if you don’t have your volume up while playing.Over all, Flower is my favorite video game ever.With simple game play, and just enjoyable overall.I would highly recommend it for anyone who likes video games, or alternative energy.I would have to give it five stars as well.I can play through it over and over and never get bored.

There is a new place you may start to see wind turbines, under bridges.They could begin to be installed under some of the biggest bridges in the world.The calculations are being made by a European team of researchers.They have taken a viaduct in the Canary Islands as a reference.With their data, they believe that it would be possible in heavy population areas or in natural areas with construction limits.The viaduct in Gran Canaria is a reference for both Spanish and British researchers.They want to verify that the wind that blows between the structure of the viaduct is the kind that can blow wind turbines to produce energy.Oscar Soto of Kingston University in London, plus his colleagues, set up the models and computer simulations.The model’s wind turbines are porous disks.This helps to simulate air resistance and can make it so they can easily test different configurations.Soto says, “As natural, the more surface is swiped by the rotor, the more power can be produced; however, it was seen that in small turbines the power rate per square meter is higher.”With this discovery, it helped him to find that the configurations with two identical turbines would be the best. They should also be medium sized.The results came in and it confirmed that the viaducts have the wind energy possibilities that the team hoped.The viaduct they studied could help wind turbines produce up to 25 Megawatts per turbine.With two turbines, that would be 5 megawatts.This classifies the turbines as medium-power range.This is equivalent to powering 450-500 homes with average consumption.As well, they would help to avoid 140 tons of Carbon Dioxide each year.The carbon dioxide avoided is the amount 7,000 trees would absorb.The team has received help from the Canarian company, ZECSA.From the Vigo University in the Canary Islands, they have received help analyzing and making connections that are needed for this project.Researchers from the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria University were in charge of the integration of the scope of renewable energy.

Welcome To Alternative Energy News

To keep up to date with the latest information on Alternative Energy, sustainable living, and global warming, read this site! I am trying to update every Sunday, so come back once a week for your newest news.